Tangled
by Ever Amaranthine
Summary: Meet Annabeth, a girl who longs for adventure but is stuck inside a tower. Meet Percy, a boy who is accused of being a theif, who climbs up and into the tower. What happens when Annabeth hits him a little too hard in the head with a... Frying pan? PERCABETH and is based on the movie Tangled so some of the events maybe similar to the movie.
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1: Annabeth's Life Story**

**I was inspired by Tangled for some reason. I hope you enjoy this story so far :) Oh and by the way, the characters might be OOC and it is an AU story.**

**DISCLAIMER: I don't own PJO**

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_Centuries ago, a ray of sunlight, so bright fell and spread warmth on bare ground and finally, a golden flower bloomed. The old and hideous monster, Medusa, found the flower and discovered that if she sings a certain song to the flower, it discharged an aura that restored her youth and her beauty. _

_Time passed and the goddess Athena had fallen deathly ill, even though the gods cannot die, it was still a concern to all the Olympians. Zeus ordered Hermes, Apollo, and Artemis to find anything that will heal Athena. The gods heard legends about a golden flower that will heal anything and that it was nearby. With the help of the oracle, they finally found the flower and used it as an elixir to heal Athena. To everyone's relief, Athena was healed. Shortly after, she gave birth to a baby girl that had blonde hair and stormy grey eyes. _

Ahem, away from all the seriousness, Athena gave birth with her mind... What? Don't look at me 'cause I've got NO idea how that happens either. Now back to the seriousness.

_Medusa being selfish and vain, wanted to keep her eternal beauty and youth that transformed her back into the woman before she was turned into that hideous monster. So she took the baby away from the goddess. And the fact that she was stealing from Athena made the revenged sweeter. She and the baby hid in an abandoned tower. _

_When the goddess found out that her daughter disappeared she was outraged and devastated and sent her owl looking for her and the other gods too. Athena even tried to look for her daughter herself but no luck and the cruel Fates would not help her either. The missing daughter who was Annabeth._

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I sighed as I finalized my drawing of the place I have dreamt of ever since I could remember—Camp Half-Blood. My dreams are almost always the same. It felt like watching a TV series of some sort. It showed kids wearing orange t-shirts having fun doing all sorts of activities I really wanted to do. The place itself was amazing, a crystal blue lake with mountains on either side of it and a big house on the right of the entrance. The big house was painted sky-blue and looked peaceful enough. In front of the house, there was a volley ball court and a huge pine tree. I tried to look further in but my dreams would stop immediately and I would wake up. Which really sucked.

I have longed to go set foot to the outside world. But my mother, Medusa, did not allow me. So I'm stuck in this boring and old tower... Forever. It sounds pretty cliché and weird for a sixteen year old girl to be stuck in a tower like a princess in modern times. Our conversations would go something like this:

"_Mom can I please just go outside? Please, please, please." I pleaded. My mother just sighed and looked at me._

"_I already told you Annabeth, it's too dangerous out there." She replied._

"_Oh come on, just like a centimeter away from the tower and you can come with me to make sure I won't run away!" I said trying to convince her. Medusa seemed to hesitate but straightened herself up._

"_No." This clearly meant that that was the end of the discussion._

And yeah, I found it quite odd that my mother was named after a monster in Greek mythology. Something about Medusa seems to set me off. We never seem to get along so well. Sometimes I can notice the look of hatred that my mother gives me but I brushed it off. _Well I live with her. I might as well get used to it. _

I started to think about Medusa's myth. Medusa used to be very beautiful and how she ran away from Poseidon and went into the temple of Athena begging for help. But Athena was outraged that Medusa would do such a thing that she turned her into the most hideous creature mankind has ever seen. Medusa had snakes for her hair and can turn anyone into stone if they look at her in the eyes. I shuddered, it was very disturbing but I doubt that my mother is the same Medusa from, well, _the Medusa._ But I admired Athena; I always thought that she was the best god out of all the Olympians.

At a young age, my mother told me never to cut my curly blonde hair even though I attempted three times but she always stopped me and got really mad at me. Now my hair is up to my waist. Yes, it's that long. Also, as I've said before, I've never stepped a foot outside, I've been spending my whole entire life here. My mother taught me all the basic things like how to read, write, cook, sew, and how to survive just in case. One day, I was exploring the old tower since it was quite boring and I had absolutely nothing to do, and I stumbled upon a huge library. Call me a nerd but I love to read and to study and to learn new things every day. It makes me very happy. I started to read a lot of the Greek mythology books and every day I kept visiting and visiting. And I taught myself how to read and speak in Ancient Greek. It's weird, really. I'm ADHD and dyslexic so reading in English is very hard for me but I still try but reading in Ancient Greek comes very easy to me. It's like the words rearrange themselves for me.

Medusa found out that I've been reading all these books and she grounded me and told me to stay away from them which was NOT fair at all.

So here I am now, sneaking in to retrieve books from the library and reading every hour that she's away. Then a plan formulated in my head. Medusa is away getting more food and this is the perfect time to sneak out! I hurried to check outside of my window. Medusa is not here yet good. Then I stuffed my sketch book, a Greek book about buildings and architecture, (did I mention that I love to sketch buildings?) and another one about Athena in my makeshift backpack. I crept under my bed to retrieve a shiny bronze dagger that glowed dimly in the dark and stuffed that in there too. And finally, I went to go get some food. I promised myself that I'll be back by tomorrow. I don't care if mother will get mad at me and "ground" me forever as long as I can taste freedom—even if it's just for a day.

I heard someone moving behind me and I froze hoping mother wouldn't notice my bag. I slowly turned around and gasped. A strange guy was climbing up and onto my window. _What the heck is he doing here? Who is this guy? I don't think mother would invite him. _I tried to calm myself down and stealthily walked outside of my room and downstairs and into the kitchen.

"If he's a thief then I have more weapons here to defend myself." I muttered. I fished my bag for my dagger and went to go get a frying pan.

"What the heck? Why isn't anyone here?" The mysterious man said rather loudly. I crept up behind him and I was about to hit him with my frying pan. I didn't want to kill him with my dagger... yet. Then he turned around and his green eyes widened and I panicked and hit him in the head with the frying pan a little harder than necessary...

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**So what do you guys think? Please review. Peace :D**


	2. Chapter 2

**I felt like updating today so I did. Thanks for all the reviews, it really makes me happy. :) So just to remind you guys, the characters might be OOC and it is an AU world so don't complain. And there's one line that I copied from Tangled because I found it funny.  
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**DISCLAIMER: I don't own PJO or Tangled.**

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**Chapter**** 2: The Meeting**

**Percy's POV**

_I jumped from roof to roof as I headed to retrieve the crown from those monsters. Recently, since I was bored out of my mind in Camp Half-Blood, I received a quest from the love goddess. It went something like this:_

_The camp was suddenly silent and everyone stopped whatever they were doing and just stared. I turned to look at whatever they were staring at. I saw a very beautiful lady and it's very hard to describe her since her appearance changes more and more to become even more beautiful than she was before. _

"_Oh gods, why is she here?" I heard Piper grumble behind me. The lady stopped before me and smiled. Her eyes were forever changing to a brown, to a green, then to a blue, then back again and her hair becomes different too. _

"_Perseus Jackson." She smiled again. I gulped, you know I was never good with girls especially the goddess herself._

"_Yes, Lady Aphrodite." I bowed and so did the other campers. _

"_I have come here to give you a quest. All I need you to do is to find the lost crown." _

"_Uhh sure." I accepted the quest. And now here I am trying to find it. I don't even know how I agreed to this stupid quest. I looked at this place, it looked abandoned and there were no signs of activity anywhere and that usually means that this place is monster-prone. I entered the tallest building which looked like it was going to fall any minute. I saw the crown right in the middle with a lot of monsters guiding it from the front. But the good thing was, I entered from the back door. One of the monsters sneezed. _

"_Got the hay fever huh?" I asked._

"_Yeah." _

_I ran for dear life and I was sure that they were hot behind my trail. I whistled for Black Jack to come but he's taking too long. I'll become demigod meat in no time. I ran towards the forest where I prayed to the gods I'll lose them but of course, they didn't lose me. I climbed a tree and there was a vine and I swung aiming for the first monster, uncapping Riptide and slashing it and it disintegrated. I rode on its horse, the _anemoi thuellai, _and tried to make it move but the storm spirit was stubborn and tried to grab my satchel. That went on until the satchel went flying and hung on a random tree branch on the edge of a cliff. We looked at each other and raced for it and I grabbed the satchel but unfortunately, the branch couldn't hold up the storm spirit and my weight so we fell. I ran towards the leaves that were hiding a secret cave. I crept through it and saw a tower. _

**Annabeth's POV**

Okay, so maybe I hit him in the head a little bit harder than necessary but I didn't mean to knock him unconscious, okay? I put the frying pan down on some old boxes beside me and turned his body around. He was lying on his face. I made sure he was still alive.

_Oh thank the gods, he's alive! I thought I killed him. _

I grabbed a chair from the nearby table and lifted the mysterious man and settled him on the chair.

_Are people usually this heavy? Geez..._

I then searched the cupboards for anything to tie him to the chair. I found what I was looking for; the rope that I use to help Mother climb the tower. I went back to the guy with my frying pan and rope just to make sure he's still asleep then I tied him to the chair and secured him. You know, I'm sure I'd be a very good cop tying people to chairs and knocking them unconscious just with a pan. Anyways, I paced back and forth trying to think of a way to interrogate him and then if he refuses to answer then I'll hit him with the frying pan again.

.

.

.

_Annabeth, you're getting a little too violent for your own good! _I shook my head while scolding my thoughts. I continued to pace back and forth then I suddenly noticed a bag that was right beside him when he was lying on the floor. Curiosity got the best of me and I opened it and I gasped. Inside was a very beautiful crown. The crown itself was pure silver and had crystal flowers imbedded in the middle as a beautiful design. The amethyst stones were incrusted at the sides of the flowers. Overall the crown was simple but beautiful.

The pieces formed in my head and I was suddenly sure that the unknown man was a thief. Let's review the facts shall we. First of all, he sneaked up and onto my tower and ruined all my plans of escaping for now. Second of all, he was holding a suspicious looking bag with a very suspicious looking crown and third of all, the guy looked pretty suspicious too.

_He didn't look like he'd be rich nor he'd be a prince. _

_That's it. I'm going to hide this crown and when he comes to, I'll throw him off the tower! _ _Okay seriously Annabeth, think of something less violent._

I looked around the room to find someplace to hide the crown. I think it took me like an hour to finally find a hiding spot. Blame my paranoia okay? Anyways, I hid it in the pot. I paced back and forth for the umpteenth time, waiting for him to wake up.

I heard a soft groan behind me and I spun around.

**Percy's POV**

I woke up and suddenly, I felt a sharp pain that went through my head. I groaned. What the heck happened to me anyways? The last thing that I can remember was that I climbed up this seemingly abandoned tower in the middle of nowhere to hide from the monsters and then... Oh right. Someone knocked me out. I cursed at my carelessness. I felt my hands were behind my back and tried to stretch them. I realized that I couldn't move them at all. I looked down and cursed again. I was tied to a chair and Riptide was in my pocket but was too hard to reach. I looked around the place then I saw a figure approaching me. I glared at the person. I struggled out of the rope.

"Who goes there? Free me and fight me like a man you coward." I shouted trying to sound very confident while struggling even more.

"Struggling won't work." A voice came out of nowhere.

The person stepped out and into the light. Wait... A girl? She glared at me while holding a frying pan. I studied the girl. She had blonde hair that was curly which kinda reminded me of a princess and she had stormy grey eyes. Wait grey eyes? This day keeps getting weirder and weirder. There was only one other person who I knew that had the same eye colour as the girl.

_Could it be...?_

I shook my head and pushed those thoughts aside. I glared at her.

"Who are you and what are you doing here huh? You thief!" She said loudly trying to intimidate me.

For someone who knocked me unconscious, she's really pretty.

"Uhh..." I said stupidly.

"Who are you and what are you doing here?" She repeated while glaring at me.

I cleared my throat. _Be smooth with the ladies, Percy. Don't mess this up._

Trying to make my voice sound deeper than it really is I said,

"I know not who you are, nor how I came to find you... But may I just say..." I paused, making sure to make it all more dramatic, "Hi. How ya doin'? The name's Jackson, Percy Jackson. How's your day goin', huh?" I gave her my crooked grin. Girls need the Percy lovin' too right?

She was studying me like a blueprint before replying.

"Alright _Percy Jackson_," she said my name as if it's foreign or something, "You still didn't answer my question. Who. Are. You. And. What. Are. You. Doing. Here?"

"What am I doing here? You're the one who knocked me unconscious!" I retorted while still staring at her. She gave me the death glare. Sad thing is, she didn't fall for the Percy charm. Not my fault I'm not good with the ladies.

"Yeah I had to! You just climbed up the tower and into my window; you could have been a psycho killer for all I know!" The blonde yelled. I just rolled my eyes and looked to the side. Oh my gods the bag!

"Where is it?" I asked trying to make myself calm.

"Huh?"

"You know the bag, the one that had the crown inside it!" I said very slowly as if I were talking to a baby. She glared at me but then smirked. Oh gods, I don't think that's a good sign at all.

"I threw it out of the tower." was all she said.

I threw it out of the tower.

I threw it out of the tower.

I threw it out of the tower.

The words seemed to be repeating in my head like a broken recording.

"Hey, thief? Are you still there? Or did you forget how to breathe?"

"YOU WHAT?!" I yelled obviously panicked. Oh gods Aphrodite is going to kill me ten times over, probably even more. Why does this always happen to me? Curse my luck. Curse my luck. Curse my luck. Curse my luck. Oh gods oh gods oh gods. Maybe Poseidon will take pity on me when I die and by any chances he'll reincarnate me into a useless floating piece of kelp that will soon be eaten by whatever eats kelp in order to keep the ecosystem goi-. Okay, my thoughts are getting stranger and stranger by the minute.

"Geez calm down, person, so what if I did throw it out of the tower? You're a thief, you deserve-" I zoned out on what she was saying and looked around the room. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw something shining. Oh gods can it be?

"Hey Blondy." That seemed to shut her up and glare at me. Ha, 1 Percy to 0 Blondy.

"Don't call me that!" She snapped and glared at me like she was trying to kill me.

"Sure, whatever. Anyways can I guess where the crown is?" I smirked. The blonde blinked and started to look confused.

"Wha? What the heck are you talking about? I told you I threw it out of the tower, you idiot. Do you have a hearing problem or something?" She asked impatiently though I can see a speck of uneasiness in her eyes. My smirk widened.

"It's in that pot, isn't it?" I asked confidently. Her mouth flew open and then closed. Blondy glared at me and reached for her frying pan.

"Haha, I didn't mean to call you Blondy. Truce? Please don't hit me." I pleaded shrinking away from her. Well, as far as I can get with the chair. She glared at me and hit me with the pan.

"Ouch what the heck was that for?" I glared at her. I think I'm going to get brain damage.

"That's what you get for calling me Blondy. Do not call me that ever again." I nodded quickly in agreement so that she can clearly see that I will comply to her request. She seemed satisfied with her big smirk. In a flash, she hit me again.

"I didn't do anything this time! Stop hitting me." I squealed in a not so manly way.

Apparently Blondy didn't listen to my, ahem, not so manly pleads because she knocked me unconscious. Again.

When I came to, she was right in front of me and she was smirking at me too.

"Now I hid it where you can never find it. So what were you doing with that crown huh? I doubt it's actually yours and how did you even find the tower? It's way out in the forest- basically in the middle of nowhere. And finally, why are you here? Are you trying to cut my hair and sell it huh? Well guess what, Percy Jackson; I'll never give you the crown nor my hair!" Blondy interrogated me.

Now it's my turned to get confused.

"Why on Earth would I want your hair? I have enough of my hair, thank you very much."

Blondy looked surprised.

"So you don't want my hair?"

"Gods no! Listen, I was being chased," _by all sorts of monsters, _"and I saw this tower and climbed up. End of story."

"So you're telling the truth?"

I controlled my urge to strangle this girl.

"Yes." I said while glaring at her for the hundredth time. She paced back and forth mumbling to herself. While she was doing that, I was trying to find a way to escape from this stupid chair.

"Alright, I'm prepared to make a deal." She smirked.

"A deal?"

"Yes a deal, now look over here." She grabbed the remaining rope that wasn't tied and tried to turn my chair to the fireplace. Unfortunately, the laws of physics hates me and I ended up falling on my nose.

"Do you see this?" She pulled on the curtain that was hiding the painting on the wall on top of the fire place. The painting had kids wearing orange t-shirts, a volley ball court, a big blue house, and an entrance that looks familiar.

"Yeah that's Camp Half-Blood." The words just spilled from my mouth. Oh gods I was NOT supposed to say that. Especially to a mortal. I cursed myself again for being clumsy and careless. Her smirk widened and her eyes lighted up like a little kid found their Christmas presents.

"Correct. And I want YOU to take me there." Wait hold on. How does a mortal like Blondy know Camp? That's impossible. My head started to hurt from thinking too much.

"Well I'm offering you a deal and if I were you, I'd take it. Listen here, Percy, I will give you, your precious satchel only if you take me to Camp Half-Blood. You can tear this tower apart, brick by brick, but you'll never, ever find your satchel. Ever." she declared.

"Okay let me summarize what you just said. If I take you to Camp Half-Blood then you'd give me the bag?" I asked not entirely convinced. And besides, my mother has seen Camp Half-Blood but she can't go in. So Blondy can do the exact same thing.

"I promise. And when I promise, I do not break it."

I raised my eyebrow at her and she stared at me with those big grey eyes.

"Okay I didn't want to do this but you leave me no choice. Here comes the 'smolder'." I looked down and prepared to give her one of the most charming looks I could muster. I looked up and gave her the 'smolder'. All she did was narrow her eyes at me.

"What? I had to try..."

"Fine I'll take you to Camp Half-Blood!"

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**What do you guys think? Did you find it funny or did I disappoint? Please review. Peace :D**


	3. Chapter 3

**I'm so sorry I haven't updated in such a long time. I would tell you the cliche excuses but you already know so to make up to you guys, I made this chapter longer than usual. (I think) Anyways a belated Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year :3  
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**Oh and thanks to everyone who reviewed, I appreciate it!  
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**DISCLAIMER: I don't own PJO**

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**Tangled**

**Chapter 3: The Adventure Begins**

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"I can't believe it... I can't believe I am free!"

I closed my eyes.

_Three..._

"This is amazing!"

_Two..._

"I can go to Camp Half-Blood!"

_One._

And just like that, the girl stopped jumping around and her eyes got misty. Tears started to fall from her eyes and soon... Soon it was like a waterfall man! Seriously... Okay sorry you must be left behind.

Kids, this is the story of how I met your mo-.

Oh crap this is the wrong section. Hold on, hold on, I forgot my script I mean I knew this happened to me, the great and mighty Perseus Jackson, but my adventures as a young man seemed like billions of years ago.

Okay, not that long ago. While I try and find my script, seriously I wrote it down here somewhere, you guys can listen to elevator music.

What?! What is wrong with perfectly good elevator music? Anyways, let's cue in the flashback.

"_So Blondy, are you coming down or are you too scared?" the blonde's face turned red and she glared at me._

"_Just give me a moment okay? This is a lot to take in and I really need to bring that frying pan." She muttered the last part. I glared at her, still remembering the painful memories between the frying pan and my head... _

"_Oh my gods, this is amazing! I'm breathing fresh air and I'm standing on grass and I am free! Thank the gods!" She exclaimed running towards the forest._

"_Hey wait you don't know where you're going!" I yelled running after her. _

_For a while, I just stood there watching the girl jump up and down and doing cartwheels and somersaults and stuff. She is somehow like a blonde Spiderman... I was amused; she looked like a kid who just received their presents. It was kind of cute._

_What? She was pretty, I mean her stormy grey eyes just transitioning from anger to happiness and her long, blonde, curly hair just flowing after her like a waterfall and overall she looked like a princess._

_Okay, okay I'm getting way too cheesy._

_So I was lost in thought when suddenly I heard someone sobbing. I looked to where Blondy was standing and she was still there just not standing. She was curled up on the ground and was bawling her eyes out. _

"_Uh hey, what's wrong with you?" I blurted. _

_Okay what I just said sounded very rude but excuse me, I am not that good at comforting people especially girls and I know I'm not the most sensitive person in the planet and I got nervous geez._

_She slowly sat up and wiped her tears away._

"_What was I thinking? My mom is going to be furious when she finds out I ran away from the tower. I'm going to be dead meat. I'm a horrible person."_

"_I promise she won't find out. Camp Half-Blood actually isn't that far away from here... I think." _

"_Really?" her face brightened._

_I suck at lying so I just nodded my head but I'm pretty sure it looked more like a twitch. _

"_No, what's the use? Eventually my mom will find out because the guilt will tear me apart! Just leave me be, here. For all eternity I shall live in solitude and will never fulfill my dream of seeing Camp Half-Blood. Leave me."_

_I shrugged and let her be. I walked away and after days of trying to find the crown, I finally returned to Camp Half-Blood, I gave it to Lady Aphrodite and everyone lived happily ever after._

_Okay I was just kidding. Since I was an idiot, I didn't let her be. I should've though..._

"_No, I can't leave you. I made a deal and I like that deal because I doubt I'll actually find the crown—"_

Oh no, I'm sure Percy can find the crown, he's just too lazy to go look for it.

"_and I want to take you to Camp Half-Blood and in return, you give me the crown. You have accomplished your dream and I complete my quest. So it's a win-win situation." _

_The blonde seemed to be thinking and lay her head back down and started sobbing again. _

"_Oh come on, don't cry, we're going to Camp Half-Blood!" I tried cheering her up._

_Suddenly, her head shot up so fast that I didn't have time to register and dodge it. And what got hit? My precious face. I could've sworn my nose was bleeding. _

_I groaned in pain and clutched my nose while the crazy girl started to jump all around. I swear there is a switch inside that bi-polar girl. _

I rolled my eyes and asked the gods why this had to happen to me? An eternal torture just meant for me, and no, it is not monsters, not other demigods and not even Ares, it's just the blonde girl that has been screaming and jumping and crying and yelling all over the place. I looked at the girl and she seemed at least a little bit normal to me so I approached her.

"Are you done your soap opera, with the crying and screaming and jumping Blondy? Because we're kind of in a tight schedule" I asked while glaring at her.

She stood up straight and dusted the imaginary dust from her shoulders.

"Lead the way mister or I will knock you out with my frying pan." She glared at me. I smirked and walked past her.

"By the way, I'm not Blondy, I'm Annabeth!"

**-X-**

A man was walking down the streets cautiously as if he was aware someone was watching him. He walked faster towards his destination. The man was dressed in a tailored black suit. His hair was neat and his beard appears to be taken care of too and his eyes were a shade of electric blue. He opened the door to a restaurant and glared at the young host until the poor guy almost wet his pants. The host led him towards a secluded booth while trembling.

"Can I order you anything sir?" the poor man asked with fear.

The man in the tailored suit glared at him until the host most likely pissed in his pants and fled.

"I think you need to be nicer to these mortals." A voice piped up and the man was seated on the opposite side of the blue eyed man.

"You may have noticed, I am not in the best mood and I see you are suited up." he mused his eyes showed of approval.

The other man rolled his eyes and looked at his tailored suit with disdain. The man was dressed in the same style of suit except it was grey. His hair was a bit more disheveled and his beard too. His skin a bit more tan and he had sea green eyes.

"I prefer my khakis but this is quite an important meeting." He replied smoothly.

The blue eyed man sighed thinking that the other man was absurd for thinking his khakis are way better than his suit. But that's not why he's here to argue about.

"My original lightning bolt has been stolen." the green eyed man showed surprise.

"I had a few suspects but it only comes down to the two. I suspect Hades must've done something or maybe your son, Perseus."

"I will not stand by and see you accuse my son. He would never do something like that! You've seen all the heroic and brave actions he has done. Surely that must've at least built a bridge of trust." The man seethed.

The blue eyed man shook his head, "You have been blinded my dear brother, but just because he is your son doesn't mean he shouldn't be the suspect. You are defending him, I know we made peace brother but you tried taking my place once, that doesn't mean you will not do it again."

The brother refrained himself from pulling his hair out.

"That was over a millennia ago and I will not try and bring conflict amongst us, I feel there is something sinister lurking in the shadows and we must all be together when it comes."

"I too have felt the danger threatening to arise from the depths of..." He trailed off but shook his head. "I will not bring such panic to the others but I will inform Chiron and Dionysus that Perseus must bring back my lightning bolt before the dawn of June twenty-first. If not, then I'm afraid the others will take sides. Goodbye brother, I shall see you on the meeting on the summer solstice." And just like that, the man disappeared from the brother's sight.

**-X-**

"Are we there yet?" The girl, _Annabeth_ asked. I puffed my chest out and held my head high.

"These places are dangerous you know, I will take you to Camp Half-Blood the safest way possible..."

"Yeah, we're lost aren't we?"

"You know what? You shouldn't cut me off it's really rude and we're not lost, like I said, I am taking you to-" Annabeth stared at me.

"Okay we're lost." I admitted, my head hung in shame. Suddenly, I heard rustling in the bushes behind us.

"Oh my gods, what is it? A monster? A thug or ruffians? Or even worse... A spider?" Annabeth yelled in my ear and climbed on my back.

I clutched Riptide in my pocket just in case it's that stupid storm horse that got me into this mess in the first place. I glared at the bushes daring for that horse to come. The rustling stopped and a little bunny came out of the bushes. I snickered and turned to look at Annabeth who climbed off my back.

"Careful, they can smell fear." I snickered.

"Oh shut up!" I laughed and started walking again.

"So tell me about your mom. I mean it's kind of unusual to see a girl all alone in a tower in the middle of nowhere." Annabeth looked up trying to think.

"You know what? I actually don't know anything about mother. Except that she goes on journeys to the outside world to get food and stuff."

I looked at her in disbelief.

"Oh come on, there must be something you know about her, like what's her name?"

"I only know her name and that she took care of me and basically, I was home schooled all my life. Oh and she wears sunglasses all the time even though it's dark. I know weird right?"

"Yeah what's her name?" I pressed.

"Med-"

"Ah, hello there strangers, I take it that you two are on a journey. How about a nice lunch? My name is Cathy and I will be your waitress for your meal."

I narrowed my eyes at the girl. Monsters like to draw us demigods in unlikely places like for example this very nice restaurant and like Annabeth's home, in the middle of nowhere. These places seem really sketchy to me. I heard someone's stomach growling. I looked at Annabeth.

"Okay, I'm a little bit hungry..." She blushed.

"Annabeth I don't think this is the best idea—" I started but got cut off by that annoying stupid preppy girl or monster or whatever she is.

"Perfect now come this way." The preppy girl, Cathy, led us inside the restaurant and got us seated. "I will take your orders right away." she handed us the menu.

"Can you give us a minute please?" I asked. Cathy hesitated but nodded and walked away.

"Listen, this place feels very sketchy to me and we should go to a safer place to eat."

How am I supposed to tell Annabeth that besides mortals, there are gods and monsters and demigods in this world, more importantly in this restaurant? I can feel myself getting tired and hungry by the minute.

"I don't get what you mean by sketchy."

"I mean that it's unusual for a restaurant to pop out of nowhere in the middle of the forest and I swear I walked this way before and I didn't see this restaurant." Annabeth didn't look convinced.

"Look Percy, you know I'm hungry from ahem, earlier events but we both need to eat before traveling to Camp Half-Blood I mean we got lost earlier so it must be a longer way from here." Annabeth did have a point.

"I'm assuming you guys must be famished. Here you go, two deliciously made burgers with fries and coke!" Cathy the waitress reappeared giving us our food.

"Uh actually, we didn't even place an order yet. Maybe this is for someone else." Annabeth stated while looking around. "And there's no one else but us here." she muttered the last part.

"See what I mean by sketchy?"

"Okay but let's eat as fast as we can and then let's get out of this place."

Before we even took a second bite of our burgers an explosion occurred behind our table. Half of the restaurant has been demolished. Three figures came out of the smoke.

"Perseus Jackson, we were looking for you." Oh gods, this restaurant is full of monsters well half of it anyways.

There stood three Empousai. The tallest one was our waitress, Cathy. They all looked the same. You know one of their legs is made of bronze and had a hoofed foot of a donkey.

That's not weird at all. This is just another normal day for me, no big deal or anything.

"Percy, what's going on?" Annabeth asked retrieving her dagger wait she had a dagger? Since when did this happen?

"Who's your girlfriend? I'm sure both of you would taste delicious!" Cathy the waitress said while the other laughed and advanced towards us.

"He's not my boyfriend!"

"She's not my girlfriend!"

We both said in unison while glaring at the Cathy the waitress and her other Empousai friends.

"Uh how do I put this? On the count of three, we run as fast as we can to the exit. How does that sound?" She nodded.

"Three. Two. One. Go!"

"Oh you are not getting away!" Everything went wrong all of a sudden, our door is gone and the other half of the restaurant that was destroyed was back again and there were no exits.

"How foolish of you, I thought you were smarter than that. But that doesn't matter because you two will soon become dead meat to us. Now where is the crown Perseus." Cathy sneered.

Oh crap, that's what they were here for? The crown?

"Listen, I don't have the crown okay?"

"It's better if you don't lie to us. We've upgraded since our last encounter." Cathy warned and out of nowhere, they all had AK-47.

"Surprised? These babies have Celestial Bronze for bullets. You guys have no chance against us." The three Empousai laughed and they sounded like they were choking on tacos or something.

"Percy, I have an idea!" I forgot Annabeth was still there so that kinda scared me but pshh, not enough to make me scream like a little girl or anything stupid like that.

"See those acetylene tanks in the far corner over there? I need you to distract these three somehow and I can sprint over there and get an acetylene tank. I'll hide behind that upturned table over there and you'll see what'll happen next. I trust you." I was surprised how calm Annabeth looked.

"Hey we only have one chance to do this and we better do this right. So if it doesn't work then it was nice meeting you Annabeth." I smirked.

"Likewise Percy, now go distract them!"

**-X-**

The woman was on a journey to the city again. She hated it there. There are too many people and too much laughter and it is easier for her to get caught there. Plus, she knew she couldn't trust Annabeth all alone up in that tower. She was so lost in thought that she didn't notice the storm spirit jumped in front of her.

"Whoa, you scared me. What are you doing here?" The woman asked the horse. From a distance, it would probably look weird for a woman talking to a horse but these aren't normal people and um horse. The horse whinnied.

"A demigod that was wearing an orange T-shirt stole the crown?" She mused. This storm spirit was unusually close to the tower.

"No, Annabeth!" She turned around and ran as fast as she could to the tower.

"Annabeth let down the rope so I can climb up!" The woman called out. There was no rope.

"Annabeth?" No one replied. The woman started to panic. She ran around to the secret entrance to the tower. She searched Annabeth's room and no one was in the tower. She went down the stairs and tried to calm down. In the corner of her eye, there was something shining behind the stairs. She retrieved the satchel and inside was the beautiful crown with a crumpled picture of _him_.

"Perseus Jackson." She seethed and took off her sunglasses. It has been a while ever since she properly used her eyes.

**-X-**

"Hey you three," the three Empousai stopped laughing and glared at him, "I challenge you to fight me! No one can ever and will never defeat me, the mighty Percy Jackson!" I declared. I looked behind me and Annabeth was gone and the Empousai has not noticed. Our plan is working!

Oh gods I hope I didn't jinx that...

I retrieved Riptide from my pocket and uncapped it. The Empousai glared and hissed at my sword.

"Anaklusmos has no effect on guns! Your actions are futile!" Cathy yelled but there was a trace of fear.

"Oh yeah? We'll see about that." I charged at Cathy getting sick of her yelling. She pulled the trigger and fired aiming towards me the other two followed her lead. Apparently, they have never used guns before because their aim was way off. I slashed at one of the Empousa and she disintegrated.

_Great, one monster down and two more to go. _

I ran while dodging the Celestial Bronze bullets. I slashed at the other Empousa but she dodged so I ended up cutting her arm. Golden_ ichor_ flowed from her and she snarled and jumped aiming her gun at me. It was too late to dodge for me. I waited for the bullets to hit me but it never happened. Annabeth was standing over me while the second Empousa was disintegrating.

"Wha? How did that happen?"

"I'm guessing my dagger is what you guys call 'Celestial Bronze'."

She offered her hand and I took it.

"Are you guys done being lovers yet? Because I'd like to eat you guys now and I can't believe you just killed my sisters!" Cathy hissed.

"Are you ready?" Annabeth smirked and ignored Cathy.

"Yeah I'm kinda tired of having to listen to Cathy the waitress whining."

Annabeth and I looked at each other and Annabeth sprinted to where she dropped the acetylene tank I slashed Cathy's not-bronzed-leg and she hissed in pain. Cathy turned around and aimed for Annabeth but it was too late, Annabeth had already thrown the acetylene tank at Cathy and she shot it.

"Run Percy!" Annabeth yelled. We both ran towards the exit that had appeared once Cathy's magic had weakened. All we heard was a scream before the whole restaurant exploded.

We gasped for breaths and looked at each other.

"We are never doing that again." I wheezed.

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**I hope I didn't disappoint and please review :3**


	4. Chapter 4

**I updated really quickly yay! I'm sorry if this chapter might be boring because it has a lot of explaining and stuff and sadly, it won't be as funny because this is a bit more serious kinda.**

**DISLAIMER: I do not own PJO**

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**Tangled  
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**Chapter 4: Explaining  
**

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"I think I'm in the dark for way too long here and I'm kind of shaky but at the same time glad we actually made it out there! You've got a lot of explaining to do." I threatened him with my frying pan.

After our close encounter with the Empousai and the explosion, it was already dark out. Percy led me to a clearing which I think he found it by accident but nonetheless, lucky. We camped out and built a fire.

"Okay, okay I'll tell you as soon as you put the frying pan down. I don't want to get hit by that again." Percy yelped. I hesitated but listened to him anyways. I motioned for him to sit down on the grass with me.

"Well, I'm listening." He sighed and looked at me right in the eyes with those sea green eyes.

"Annabeth, this might be a lot to take in but, I'm a demigod and what we encountered earlier in the restaurant, they were Empousai, a type of monster and the gods are real. You know like Zeus, Poseidon, Artemis and the other Olympians. So basically, these Greek mythologies are real and there are other monsters out there waiting to get their hands on demigod meat.

Our journey to Camp Half-Blood is really dangerous and I'm guessing you probably knew that already due to certain events. I don't want to risk your life more than I already had so if you want to turn back, now is the time to do it. We'll leave by sunrise tomorrow and I will escort you back to the tower."

I stared at him for quite a long time with my mouth opening and closing. I must've looked like a flailing fish. I grabbed my frying pan and hit him on the head with it.

"Ouch what the heck was that for? I just told you who I am and you hit me with that frying pan?" He exclaimed while clutching his head.

"That's what you get for telling me to back down! Are you implying that I am not capable? I sure am mister and I've proved it to you twice! First, remember when I knocked you out and tied you to the chair and even bargained with you and you even said yes? And second, I saved your life from the Empousai!" I countered.

"Yeah you're right. You'd probably kill any monsters that get in our way and thanks for saving me back there." Percy smiled and he looked cute.

Wait I said Percy Jackson is cute? That must be a mistake. I'm probably going insane from all the events that happened today. Yeah that must be it. I hit him in the head again.

"Okay I swear to the River of Styx that I did not do anything this time!"

"Well that's what you get for being all weird. Now you shall answer all my questions because I'm still kind of confused about what just happened, I mean, I've been dreaming that the gods were real and they are! That's a lot to take in for me... So tell me more about yourself like who's your parent, I mean on the god side?"

"My godly parent is Poseidon and my mom's name is Sally Jackson but she got married recently to my English teacher." Percy mused.

"That's pretty cool. What about me? Am I a demigod or something?" I asked suddenly feeling hopeful.

"I don't know, I mean you can be because the Mist didn't take any effect on you."

"I missed what?"

"No I mean like M-I-S-T it's sort of like a magical veil that twists a mortal's sight from seeing monsters, other 'mythical creatures' and supernatural events by replacing them with things that the mortal mind can understand and know. And the whole demigod thing, I really don't know, there's a chance that you can see through the Mist. Only a few mortals are given that gift."

"So I have no chances of being a demigod?" My shoulders slumped.

"Well, last summer, I made a pact with the Olympians that by the age of thirteen; a demigod must be claimed by his or her godly parent but that only happens when you get to Camp Half-Blood. So you never know, you may be a demigod." Percy offered.

"What's it like living in Camp Half-Blood?" I wondered.

"Well every day we get to do activities, there's the lake where the kids go canoeing and there are some river spirits there and the lava spewing climbing wall and the volleyball court and the Big House which is where the camp counsellors have meetings and Chiron and Dionysus lives there."

"Wait hold on, Dionysus as in the god, son of Zeus, Dionysus?"

"Yeah he's sentenced here on in the mortal world for a hundred years because he gambles and drinks too much. He can't go back to Olympus unless there is an urgent meeting. All he can drink in Camp Half-Blood is Diet Coke and he never gets my name right." Percy complained. I laughed and soon he joined in too.

"You know what? If I were a demigod, I would want my mom to be Athena but sadly, I already have a mom."

"Ah, the goddess of wisdom and war; she doesn't like me just because my father is Poseidon." Percy grumbled.

"Oh shut up Seaweed Brain, she doesn't like you because of all the seaweed that's stuck in your head. Goodnight and you better not make a sound because I would sure like to sleep!" I turned away from him and curled up into a ball trying to get as comfortable as I can.

"Seaweed Brain?" I heard Percy mutter to himself in disbelief.

**-X-**

I was standing in front of a big blue house. _Oh my gods, this must be what Percy was talking about, The Big House. _I looked around. Camp Half-Blood was completely deserted because it was already dark out. _Good no one is out there; I might as well take a look around inside. It wouldn't hurt me to do so right? _I slowly opened the door which made a loud creak. _Nice going Annabeth. Be a little louder than that... _I mentally slapped myself. Now's not the time to be arguing with myself. The house was pretty nice inside, it smelled of hot chocolate and s'mores and oddly enough, there were vines all around the living room bursting with red grapes. There was a warm fire crackling and there was a stuffed head of a leopard, or so I thought, on top of the fireplace. I swear to the gods I saw it move.

I was about to take a closer look at the leopard when I heard voices and the door slowly opened to show two men- well I guess one and half of the other man were walking towards me or where the old, worn out leather couches. I squeaked in panic and hid behind one of the couches. I looked around the corner where I can see the two talking.

"I just came back from Olympus. Zeus is not happy and I mean like grumpier than usual. Poseidon was pretty mad too. Tension was rising amongst the other Olympians too as if they were about to decide which god to side on." Explained a short man with a red nose which kinda made him look a little like Rudolph, and his hair was really black, it almost looks like it is purple. He had watery, bloodshot eyes from I'm guessing, way too much drinking. He was wearing a leopard spotted Hawaiian shirt and purple running shoes.

_Talk about a horrible fashion taste and choices... _

The other man, well I shouldn't say that, he's a Centaur, interrupted my thoughts when he replied, "Zeus is accusing Poseidon that his son stole Zeus' master lightning bolt? Has he not seen the boy's heroic actions? He would never do something like that."

"Chiron, you're biased; you like Peter Johnson..." For some reason I can still see Chiron and I'm guessing, Dionysus, talking but I couldn't hear them anymore.

It's as if I'm getting pulled away by an invisible force. It took me a moment to realize the scene was changing.

Now I'm in a dark place. There's a musty smell in the air and it's getting a little bit chilly. I wrapped my arms around me and started to walk towards the light. This place is giving me the creeps.

"The plan is working sir, I overheard the conversation in the Big House and Dionysus is saying the Olympians are following Zeus and Poseidon's lead and are turning against each other." A smooth voice reported. Suddenly I heard hisses that gave me chills down my spine.

"The good news is, the boy isn't informed yet because he's still on a quest. The bad news is, she's gone. I'm sending some of my servants to look for her. It will be horrible when she finally uncovers the secret and reunites with_ her_." I heard hisses when the female voice mentioned the mysterious woman.

_Who were they talking about? And why does the woman's voice sound so familiar? It's making my head spin. _

"Perfect oh and try to find that girl as soon as possible. We don't want another distraction to the golden plan." This voice gave me goose bumps, the voice was metallic and gave me the creeps but that's not new. This whole place makes me really uncomfortable.

The scene suddenly changed and I could no longer move. Horrified I looked down. My legs are made of stone and there were spiders getting closer to me. I screamed at the top of my lungs for help but when I looked up, I saw Medusa and no, not my mother, Medusa as in the gorgon. I looked in her eyes.

Medusa was cackling loudly.

"Oh you poor thing, so useless you are, Annabeth."

"Annabeth..."

"ANNABETH!"

I woke up with a start. Cold sweat was pouring down my face.

"Hey, are you okay?" Percy asked surprisingly softly. He reached up to touch my forehead which made me flush.

"Yeah I'm fine geez." I pushed his hand away and tried to stop the blush.

"You were muttering in your sleep and you screamed which woke me up. That doesn't seem okay to me." He countered.

"Oh, well I was dreaming of spiders and I have arachnophobia." I said sheepishly.

Percy looked at me, still unsure if I was okay or not but decided to let it slide.

"Well we have to go right now. The earlier we get to Camp Half-Blood the better right?"

**-X-**

"So tell me more about yourself." Percy announced getting bored of not talking.

I thought about telling Percy about my dream but something is holding me back.

"Well, I've been stuck in the tower for sixteen years and then you came. And I'm obsessed with Greek mythology too. Oh and I taught myself how to speak and read Ancient Greek." I stated proudly. Percy was about to say something but I cut him off, "And I'm smarter than you, that's for sure."

"Hey! I'm not that dumb!" Percy glared at me which made me laugh.

"You have seaweed for a brain." I teased. Percy stuck his tongue out.

"So, a mortal who can see through the Mist... I know someone who can see through the Mist too." He mused.

"Really? Who is he?"

"Oh no, she's a girl. We met like around two years ago in the city and then we met again in my newest school. Oh and she saved me with a plastic blue comb. That part was pretty funny." Percy unconsciously grinned.

_Wow this girl must mean a lot to him. _I tried to ignore the slight pang in my chest. _What the heck Annabeth? Pull yourself together, you barely know him. _

"Anyways, I couldn't stop thinking about your dagger. Can I see it?" Percy asked.

I nodded and took the dagger from my makeshift bag. He examined the dagger. It had a faint glow.

"How is it Celestial Bronze? You've never been to Camp Half-Blood. I'll talk to Leo about it..." He muttered.

"I don't get it- what's so great about Celestial Bronze?" I asked suddenly confused.

I remembered the answer.

"Oh wait don't answer that, Celestial Bronze is mined by the Cyclopes from Mount Olympus and they shape the ore by tempering the metal in Mount Etna and cooling it in the River Lethe. Am I correct?" I asked while smirking.

"Sometimes I feel you just do that to make me look stupid and to show off." Percy complained. I smacked his arm.

"But yeah you're absolutely right... I think. The metal is deadly only to gods, monsters and demigods but it doesn't affect mortals."

"I'm not even kidding, every time you ask me a question and I answer it, I feel quite intelligent." Percy puffed his chest out while smirking.

"You wish, Seaweed Brain."

"You really do know how to deflate a man's ego, Annabeth." He replied dryly.

Percy suddenly stops which made me bump into him.

"What's wrong?" I whispered. He pointed at the sky. I couldn't see anything at first but I suddenly saw something. I squinted- it was an eagle, a golden eagle. Suddenly there were five of them circling the sky above us.

Percy retrieved a pen from his pocket and slowly uncapped it. The pen turned into a double-edged sword that was about three feet long, a leather-wrapped grip and a flat hilt riveted with gold studs and just like my knife, it had the faint bronze glow.

"So your pen turns into a sword huh?"

"Yeah sorry, I didn't tell you that. It's called Riptide but Anaklusmos in Ancient Greece." He smiled playfully.

We heard the sound of horses clopping. We turned around and saw a golden chariot and following were three other chariots but not as grand as the first one. A girl about the same age as us, sixteen, stepped out of the chariot with two metal greyhounds following behind her. One was silver and the other gold and they were growling at us. The girl was clad in full battle Roman armor with the purple toga draped over her armor and many medals pinned on her toga. She wielded a golden spear and had an SPQR tattoo with four bar lines like a barcode or something and a crossed sword and torch.

"That's Reyna, the praetor of the Roman Camp, I promise I'll explain everything later..."

"If we make it out alive." I finished.

Behind her were other Roman soldiers lined up with their swords and spears pointed at us. We heard someone scrambling to get to the front. A scrawny guy with blonde hair and blue eyes that written "I'm insane" and pale skin. He wore a white toga over his purple shirt and jeans. He wielded a ceremonial knife and oddly enough, with teddy bears hung on his belt.

I felt sorry for the fate of those teddy bears...

"That's Octavian, he's not exactly friendly with the Greeks and thinks all of us are his enemies and he's a teddy bear killer." Percy added.

"Get him, he's the one who stole Jupiter's original lightning bolt!" Octavian screamed. The Roman warriors hesitated but advanced towards us.

"Stop, lower your weapons!" Reyna commanded and walked towards Percy.

"Reyna, what's going on? What do you mean, I stole the lightning bolt?" Reyna narrowed her eyes.

"Do not lie Percy, Lord Jupiter's master lightning bolt has been stolen, were you not informed in Camp Half-Blood?" Her greyhounds started growling at us.

"I swear on the River Styx that I didn't do anything with the lightning bolt, much less _steal _it!" Percy retorted. The dogs stopped growling.

"You're telling the truth. But the Romans have spoken. I tried stalling them because I knew you didn't do it... They will come after you no matter what and I will be the lead. I do not want any war between the Greeks and the Romans because I feel there will be something horrible that will happen any time now. I will give you guys a head start so Percy and..."

"Annabeth, my name's Annabeth."

Reyna raised her eyebrow and looked at Percy.

"She's a mortal who can see through the Mist."

"That's interesting... Percy and Annabeth choose where you go and tread carefully. The next time we meet, it will be on the battlefield. You better find the lightning bolt." Reyna warned and at that she raised her spear and aimed for Percy's head but Percy deflected that blow easily.

"Thank you." Percy said before sprinting towards the bridge. I looked back and saw Reyna smiled and just like that it was gone.

She raised her spear again and said,

"Don't let them get away, find them!"

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**So again, what did you guys think? Did I disappoint? Please review, review, and review because I want to know where I go wrong and where I should improve. Until next time :3**


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